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Patina Gallery presents "Abstraction," an exhibition of dynamic new mobiles and photography from artist and Patina Gallery director, Ivan Barnett and "Delicacies," an exhibit of luscious jewels in 18k gold and deliciously colored gems from artist and designer, Barbara Heinrich.

Allison and Ivan Barnett of Santa Fe's Patina Gallery

Considered one of the most beautiful galleries in Santa Fe, Patina represents more than 100 American and European artists working in clay, wood, sculpture and fine art jewelry.

Santa Fe, New Mexcio (PRWEB)November 25, 2013

The winter holidays in Santa Fe are like none other, brightened everywhere with festive lights and gleaming farolitos. The crisp mountain air is redolent with the scents of burning pinon wood and when it snows, the beauty will leaves one breathless.

This year, Patina Gallery warms the season with two spectacular exhibitions. "Abstraction" features soul stirring new mobiles and photography from artist and gallery director, Ivan Barnett. Each is a composition of pure and dynamic design. The exhibition opens December 6 and runs through December 29.

“Delicacies” is an exhibit of Barbara Heinrich’s delectable, almost edible jewelry, set with deliciously colored gems and twinkling diamonds. Her rich, gleaming gold will bring light to the holiday and flatter every woman who wears it. The exhibition opens December 20 and runs through January 12, 2014.

Artist Ivan Barnett has created mobiles throughout his 40 year career. Evolving from earlier works, Barnett’s newest mobiles are created using abstract shapes cut from thin sheets of oxidized and pigmented steel. The shifting relationships of form in space create ever changing compositions. Barnett also introduces photographs captured while on a trip to China last year. Examples of his works reside in the permanent collections of the Museum of International Folk Art and the New Mexico Museum of Art.

Barbara Heinrich was born in Germany and trained as a metalsmith, there. Now living in New York, her thoughtfully luscious, yet understated, works in 18k gold are distinguished by craftsmanship and refinement. Heinrich's works have been honored with numerous prestigious awards including Couture Design Award, Best of Gold.

“Creating jewelry is very natural to me,” Heinrich says, “yet it takes a very high concentration of a special kind, an inner listening and seeing. This takes me to a secret garden, a place in consciousness where things of great beauty and grace exist and are absolute realities. My pieces are just as much gifts to me as they are to you. May their uniqueness touch the uniqueness in you.”

Ivan Barnett is passionate about design. His digital images are close ups of ordinary features encountered in China’s urbanscapes. He shows us a detail of an aged, crackled tarp or painted sidewalk whose scuffed and marred surface takes on a painterly patina. These are not images of tarps or sidewalks, but passages that comprise them. Each is a reduction, an abstraction, that reveals how his eye is drawn to shape, color and composition, the same fascination he explores through his mobiles.

He speaks of the artists who inspire him, with deep admiration, Arthur Dove, Henri Matisse and Alexander Calder, to name a few. “I feel as though I’ve made them my teachers. When I read their journals, I’m transported. I experience a deep desire to return to a time when I could be with them…when artists flocked to those they loved and dug in and listened, and learned, all in an attempt to add something to the conversation.”

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Considered one of the most beautiful galleries in Santa Fe, Patina represents more than 100 American and European artists working in the media of clay, wood, sculpture and fine art jewelry. Now in its 15th year, Patina is an international destination for soul stirring works of contemporary craft and design.